Detroit Film Theatre

THE WAITING ROOM

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Detroit Film Theatre

(USA/2012–directed by Peter Nicks)

One of the year’s most compelling and acclaimed documentaries uses extraordinary access to go behind the doors of an American public hospital struggling to care for a community of largely uninsured patients. The film – using a blend of cinema verité and characters’ testimonies – offers a raw, intimate, and surprisingly uplifting look at how patients, staff and caregivers each cope with disease, bureaucracy and hard choices. The ER waiting room is the grounding point for the film, capturing in human terms what it means for millions of Americans to live without health insurance. Steel workers, taxi drivers, gun victims, international asylum seekers and ordinary citizens crowd the halls. The film weaves the stories of several patients – as well as the hospital staff charged with caring for them – as they cope with the complexity of the nation’s public health care system, while weathering the storm of a national recession. Audience Award, San Francisco Film Festival. (81 min.)

“An astounding and moving look at a typical shift at Oakland’s Highland Hospital. The rare film that can change the way you think and see the world.” –Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

“Of all the memorable films on offer at Silverdocs, the most haunting and engrossing by far is The Waiting Room.” –Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post